P43 The colour of oak furniture in communist-era living rooms

Accept the challenge launched by Anamaria and I'm trying to tell you what it is about this P43.

Pitch and turpentine, the raw materials for making P43 berries

P43 was the most common colour in furniture shops before the revolution. Almost all oak furniture was this colour or its darker version P44. The colour itself is a yellow-brown with slight green or orange iridescence.

The original version of the colour was obtained by hot dissolving a quantity of pitch in white spirit. It was done in any factory laboratory and did not require any sophisticated apparatus. All that was needed was an electric cooker. The only problem was the smell of the solvent, which was heavy and persistent. Do you remember how it smelled in the apartment after washing the floors with Petrosin? That was the smell.

As good for oak, as unsuitable for beech

Extraordinary about this berry was the "chemistry" between oak and berry. The staining was perfectly even, without stains, the pores were beautifully marked, it looked like they were antiqued with special patinas, there were no problems after drying. But with the other woods, especially beech, it was a big problem. On beech there were always stains, it was practically impossible to stain like that. For this reason the P43 variant was made from Codlea stains or, later, from staining solutions.

The P43 fashion continued for a while after '89, but slowly, slowly the colouring of furniture diversified, using other colours and finishes.

I hope you find the information useful. As usual, additions are welcome. And if you have any questions or queries, please leave them in the space below. I'm sure I'll reply.